10 Things We Love About NZ!

After a month in the South Island, we’ve had a loooong time to consider what we like about NZ. In fact, there’s a lot! And lot’s that we could do better in the UK. So here’s our Top 10… plus some more photos we didn’t add and a great video of Jonathan Attenborough at the Catlin’s!

1) Music playing in toilets and showers in campsites  - gives you a bit more privacy!

2) Investment in public amenities: however small the town or village… there is ALWAYS a public toilet (useful for us) and an awesome kid’s playground (also useful on occasion).

3) Clothes charity shops being made to look cool, like a boutique… and the clothes being displayed better…

4) The Department of Conservation encompassing EVERYTHING to do with the outdoors (including search and rescue) so it all works really smoothly.

5) Effective and inventive road signs to get you to slow down when driving…
Welcome to ………
No hospital, no doctor, one cemetery

6) iSites and tourist information boards making visiting places so easy… they tell you all the places you can stay, give you prices, ring up and book it for you and tell you how to get there – and all with a smile! We love you iSite!

7) Accessibility to wildlife: tramping routes make it easy for anyone to go walking in the wild! Plus they always have conservation articles in the newspaper!

8) Screen brushes to wash your windscreen at petrol stations…

9) Asking local people for local community schemes Blue Peter Style – you know with the meter to see how much you’ve raised! I have no idea why we don’t still do this – we always just apply for external grants!

10) People that invite you back to their home, even though you’ve only just met them on the beach!

Oh! and we also liked the fact we both met people we know from home… like seeing Jemma that I used to work with in the Rufford Arms as she drifted past MacDonalds in Dunedin.

Jon Attenborough discovers Dinosaur Eggs

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Edinburgh of the South

Dunedin - 21st December 2010

I’ve been really looking forward to coming to Dunedin since we started the road trip. Whether it’s because it’s a bit Scottish or because Jon’s friend from Uni, Dom, came from here; I don’t know the reason but I had a feeling that I would like it. And so far it definitely hasn’t disappointed.

Last night we stayed at a holiday park near the beach so we had a lovely evening stroll along the sand. To get to the beach we had to pass a Links golf course so of course Jon was keen to keep me company. On the beach we had a now compulsory game of Frisbee, watched a dog dig a huge hole in the dunes and then headed back via the local play area with a dinosaur slide and Nessie-style swings. Of course, this was a children’s play area so we didn’t have a go ourselves… ; ) On the plus side, even the smallest of places in the south island have a play area and they have much better equipment than those in the UK. Not that I’ve been looking of course. : )

The caravan park we stayed in last night was a throw back from the Hi-de-Hi  era, with breezeblock buildings painted with flowers and caricatures on the walls. Needless to say that we’re in a different park tonight but it did start to grow on me and it was quite an experience in itself. I did get an awesome night’s sleep though and we’ve had a great day today.

The weather started off pretty dismally today, which is the first day we’ve had like that since we got here. Jon wanted to play golf but with it being super windy we headed out to the Otago Peninsula to see the Royal Albatross colony. The peninsula is heavily dominated by agricultural land and for that reason it felt a lot like home, maybe a bit like the islands off Scotland. It definitely felt like a peninsula and don’t think because there’s a lot of farmland that it’s less attractive than other places we’ve been. It was just as beautiful; but in it’s own distinct way.  

By the time we got to the headland with the albatrosses on it, the clouds had blown away and we had beautiful blue skies even though the winds were gale force. You guys have got snow – we’ve got 140kph winds! For this reason the albatrosses weren’t flying much but we did get a great view of 5 birds sat on eggs and they are massive! We also saw spoonbills on the cliffs (possibly a little disorientated from the wind?!), gannets, spotted shags and even a little owl flew in to say hello! We also watched a really interesting video about long line fishing; how dangerous it is to albatrosses and how easy it is to solve the problem. It was really fascinating to me as I’ve heard all about it in the past, and even post off my used stamps to the RSPB Albatross appeal but I didn’t really know much about the process. I know I’m going to sound really stupid but in my head long line fishing had always been one hook on a really really long line. Not hundreds on a line! Now I think about my version it would not be even vaguely economically viable (doh!) but hey, that’s why I’m the academic one and Jon’s the practical one!!! – cheeky madam! (Jon) I just don’t apply myself in the academic field that’s all.

This afternoon, we considered going to Lanarch Castle but as it’s not got it’s original pieces and it didn’t have a guided tour I figured I’d seen enough castles in my lifetime (thanks to my force-fed historical childhood : )) to give New Zealand’s only one a miss! What’s really sad is that my combined tick box personality and nurtured cultural interest upbringing will probably mean that I have to come back and do it sometime!

With the weather getting increasingly worse (traffic lights swinging precariously over intersections)  we headed to our campsite for the night (with a powered site – but no power due to a power cut. – the wind again!) and had a quick nap before getting tidy for an extravagant meal in town. Extravagant because we’ve hardly eaten out and because it’s a place with people and buildings and everything!!! We ate at a place recommended in the DK Picture Guide, Cafe Nova, in the Octagon. It was wonderfully scrumptious food and really good value too! I would have paid more but don’t tell them! I had a Thai chicken salad with a fabulously refreshing Pinot Gris that went perfectly together. Jon had a seafood Gumbo type thing with whole invertebrates floating around in it but we wont talk about that!!! It’s not that I don’t like seafood or anything?! It’s just that I like to be able to chose the part of the organism I am eating - rather than the whole of it!  ; ) 

High Walls and Waterfalls

The Milford Route and Sound – 13th/14th December 2010

If you ever decide you want to hike (or as the NZ’ers say – tramp?!) the Milford Track; take into account that you need to book about 6 months in advance! We had hoped that this would be the way that we would visit Milford Sound but as the walk was a no go we chose to do the full on tourist thing and drove down the Milford Road to go on a scenic cruise! Whoop whoop!

It’s a 75 mile long road that takes you in and out of Milford Sound from Te Anau.  Considering how long the road took to build (for example - the Homer tunnel was started in the 1930’s and only completed in 1953!) and the fact that it doesn’t seem to have any other use than to bring tourists to the Sound – it’s a good job it’s still popular! Saying that, it is a pretty fantastic car journey and the many DOC campsites on the way were all situated in fabulous settings. I’ll stick a photo below because we got some great shots the evening we drove down. 


The Homer Tunnel you go through is also pretty awesome – the lights on it only change every 15 minutes and when they do, you dip into a completely dark tunnel that seems to be taking you underground rather than to the other side. The most similar experience is the tunnel you go through on a log flume ride before you go down the chute! Childish? Moi?! Never.

We went to Milford Sound expecting to be impressed and  we weren’t disappointed. It’s probably one of the best things we’ve done so far. Jon says it was because the sides of the Sound were so sheer and it was as impressive as the pictures you see in the guidebooks. I enjoyed it because I got to laze around on a sunny boat for 4 hours occasionally spotting the wildlife.

We picked a nature cruise rather than a scenic cruise but I’d guess there’s little difference between the two. However, we did have the bonus of a quick witted narrator who pointed out a few things on the way. At one point he was describing a base jump that took place off the high wall in the Sound.  The guy pointed out that if you jumped off the wall without a parachute you’d have over 10 seconds to consider what you’d done before you landed ‘gently caressing the water’. The other thing that made me laugh was that when we sailed out of the Sound (and I can say that because our boat had sails – for entirely aesthetic purposes only – but sails nonetheless!) our guide pointed out some buoys which mark crayfish storage pots underneath. The man explained how the crayfish lived inside of them before being shipped live overseas to somewhere like Japan. That way, he said,they could ensure that the crayfish arrived in the best condition, fresh and ready for a hot bath and a big night out in a fancy restaurant.

 

Did you know that Milford Sound was named after Milford Haven – the hometown of the Welsh whaler who first sailed down it? Not entirely sure they’re comparable…

Wonderful Wildlife in the Catlins

Monday 20th December

I had an absolutely terrible night’s sleep last night. After getting off the ferry at Bluff we headed East along the South Coast whilst it was still light. The 21st is the longest day here so it wasn’t dark until after 10pm. I can’t believe that we are going to experience the longest day twice in one year… it’s one of my favourite days – maybe I should look into becoming a Druid or Pagan or something of that ilk…

Anyway, we wanted to follow some of the sights listed in the Catlins Tour, which are basically places of scenic and historic interest along the South Coast, and the first site on the list is a headland that sometimes has sea lions on it but is also sadly famous for a huge maritime disaster for NZ. In 1881 a steamboat heading for Melbourne I think, ran aground on the reef literally just off the shore – about 500m out.but when they hit the reef the boat started to sink and for some reason it says that there were helpless onlookers watching it sink over the course of the day. 131 people died I believe.  I don’t know whether there was a storm and that’s what made it impossible to get assistance but due to this event, an inquest later ruled that more safety provision was required on ships in the form of lifejackets and lighthouses were needed in treacherous waters. I suppose people perhaps couldn’t swim them but it seemed really sad that so many people died so near to land.  What was even sadder was that just down the road was is a field where half of the bodies were buried. The first half were sent off for a post mortem but as more and more bodies were washed ashore it became to costly to transport them. I’ve found some more information on it here.

Anyway – I started off saying I’d had a terrible night’s sleep, and I was going to explain why. So we’d had a lovely walk to the lighthouse and on the beach  last night. Lovely and slightly traumatic. We’d gone down to the beach off the cliffs to see if we could spot any sea lions in the distance. Hon spotted one about 1km away – it looked like a brown seashore slug through the binoculars so we turned our attention to taking some photos of the beach instead. We were both so enthralled in our own little photo projects that it was more luck than judgement that I turned around to see the not-so-slug-like bull sea lion bounding up the beach towards us. It wasn’t sprinting but I would say he was definitely jogging with intent and he was only about 150m away. I didn’t know they could move so fast! I didn’t know I could move so fast either!!! I was half way up the cliff path before I’d finished shouting Jonathan. Survival of the sneakiest I say! We spent another 20 minutes or so watching him from the cliff top as he made his way to the water and made Jaws-like noises as he swam in and around the kelp along the shore.

So we’d had a lovely walk, a close escape and a good laugh about it as we settled down in the van for the night. It was lovely and peaceful when I went to sleep. However, we were woken up a few hours later to the van being shaken quite strongly by the wind. The wind was howling and the rain was coming down heavy too. Well, you know me and my vivid imagination. I was picturing sea lions trying to get into the van and the ghosts of the shipwreck being angry for freedom camping on their cliffs! Even after I finally got back to sleep I was awake at 7am just in case someone came along to tell us off! Jon was less than amused as there were 3 other vans there and no sign of authority!

Getting up early did have one advantage though. It gave me another chance to go over to the top of the cliffs and have another scan for sea lions. This time I saw a smaller female lying just next to the bottom of the path to the beach. I was busy taking photos of here from the cliff when Jon arrived to watch another male run down the beach to greet her. I don’t know whether he was protecting her as he’d seen me taking photos from above but it was a very boisterous and affectionate greeting they gave each other. I like to think he’d been off for a swim in the bay whilst she was just relaxing and enjoying some rays. It’s like that with humans on holiday; the men have to go for a walk to explore or just be doing something, whilst the women will sit there reading and sunbathing all day given the chance!

If you were ever based in the South Island for a long time and were homesick from the UK, I would recommend driving through the Catlin area. There’s a lot of farmland there and it’s a bit like the area around Aberdeen. It would also be good for a flat(ish) bike ride. I stress the ‘ish’ there.

Following our wonderful sea lion encounter, we went on to see some other great things along the Catlins route. We went to another bay to see a petrified forest from the Jurassic period. It was amazing to see the eroded tree stumps and imprints of fallen trees now made of stone. We also had two more fantastic wildlife experiences. First of all we got to watch a wonderful Yellow-eyed Penguin pootling over the rocks for half an hour.

The information boards at the top of the beach said stay 20m away from them and to not get in the way of them and the scrub at the top of the rocks so they could get back to their nests as it’s the breeding period. This one either didn’t have a nest or it was an extremely chilled penguin because it didn’t seem in an hurry to get away from the handful of tourists watching its every move.

The second great bit of wildlife experience in Curio Bay was that on our way out back along the beach we rudely interrupted a nesting Variable Oystercatcher who went ape at Jon and flew at him at head height. If Jon hadn’t backed off in a hurry I think she would have been on him pecking his eyes out!

So with time moving on we decided to get a shift on and head up to Dunedin. There were more caves and waterfalls we could have stopped at on the way but we decided they probably wouldn’t even come close to the waterfalls in Fiordland so we made one final stop at a beautiful scenic point where the bush runs all the way down to a perfect sandy beach before we were on our way.

Glacier Country

9th and 10th December 2010 –

Be grateful for what you’ve got…

We had what can only be described as a somewhat stressful arrival to the Franz Josef/Fox Glacier area on Wednesday evening. I’d carefully planned a stay in a Conservation Campsite scenically situated at the northern end of Lake Mapourika, just outside Franz Josef. As we haven’t seen so many lakes in NZ so far it would have been a nice change. That’s if they hadn’t completely commandeered the campsite for use as a storage area for dumpers, diggers and every type of highway maintenance machinery necessary for a patch up job on the adjacent road. We drove past it twice and had gone all the way in to Franz Josef before I even realised it wasthe site of the campsite we were looking for! Thank the Lord that we did – I was beginning to think I was either going nuts or I had read the map totally wrong. Knowing me – either is quite a realistic option isn’t it?! 

Plan B was to stay up the road in Okarito, which is on the coast. When I say Plan B, I should clarify that it was Helen’s Plan B. Jon’s Plan B was to stay central in FJ but as I threw a bit of a tired premenstrual strop things went my way : ) – not my greatest moment I admit. Anyway, the map promised a panoramic view of the Alps (which I heartedly pointed out to Jon) and the only White Heron Breeding Ground in NZ (which I thought best kept to myself ; )). The weather had turned cloudy and overcast for the first time since we arrived in the country but I enthused that it would be brighter by the morning.

The long and short of the tale is that it wasn’t. And the panoramic view might be something I get teased about for the rest of the trip… but on the plus side,   the beach had some awesome skimming stones on it (we’re easily pleased… is it possible that this gets more fun the older you get??!) and the campsite was pretty cool too. It seemed to be a bit of a community venture. It was $10NZ each for adult to stay there but free for kids and the facilities were great. You just put your money in an honesty box and the receipt in your car/van window. This is generally the case in all the Conservation Campsites too – which are government owned. It’s a lovely wholesome system and I hope people respect it so that it stays that way. Probably what England used to be like.

I met a lady just outside the campsite walking around looking like she’d was searching for something. I said hello as she past and she asked if I’d seen a group of children around the place. I replied that I hadn’t and asked if she’d lost them. “Yes” she replied. “But only half of them are mine” she seemed to add as an afterthought.   I had to laugh to myself – if only England was still as relaxed as that too!

Anyway, the best bit is that on the way out past the lagoon, we got a really good view of a Kotuku or White Heron (Egretta alba) gulping away through some fish it was catching. The population really dropped in the past as the feathers were used in ladies headwear and I could see why… in the breeze the feathers on the rump of the bird ruffled delicately and you could imagine how pretty they would look adorning an Edwardian? hat. I think they’d probably tickle a lot too!

So we’ve managed to fritter away a couple of days in the area. Yesterday we had lunch and drove to the car park at the bottom of the Franz Josef Glacier. The idea was that we’d walk to the base but it started to rain as we got there so we had a nice afternoon nap in the back of the van. I think I may have possibly found my ideal form of transport – a portable bed. Awesome. If I’m a snail in my next life I couldn’t be happier.

As the weather didn’t ease, we headed into town to the West Coast Wildlife Centre. Probably a grander title than it deserves but it had displays about wildlife in the area, explained the glaciers and provided an opportunity to see the rarest Kiwi species, the Rowi, of which only 300 exist in a population in Okatiro. Their situation is so dire that all the individuals have been tagged with with a special transmitter that allows the heartbeat of the individual to be tracked by a receiver from a plane flying overhead. If the heartbeat is low – around 46 bpm – it means that the individual is incubating an egg and they go and track down the bird and effectively steal the egg. Harsh for the adults but the egg is then incubated back in a safe environment away from stoats and possums. The juveniles are now reared on a small predator free island in the Malborough Sounds and when they are fully mature they are returned to the Okatiro bush. In the wild, the young Rowi has a 95% death rate. This way, 95% survive.

Today we decided to bite the bullet. The heli-hike might not be available for days due to the weather and we didn’t really want to waste anymore time. Therefore we decided to go on a guided half-day walk to the base of the Fox Glacier and up on to it for an hour with a guide. Jon wasn’t convinced that this would be that different from going on snow but my tick box personality wasn’t to be argued with and we booked on the 1:30pm trip.

It was well worth the money. Yes, we could have walked to the base for free, and we did only spend an hour on the glacier. But being on a glacier is really surreal. I mean, I’ve always thought that glaciers look surreal in books. If you ever see pictures taken in the summer months, what strikes me the most is how they just don’t fit in with the vegetation surrounding them. The photos taken in winter are fine because it’s just them and snow and that makes sense. But a jagged ice river slicing through the cushioned canopies of a forest looks crazy. And it’s even crazier in the flesh. And to stand on one is both surreal and glorious at the same time.

With the rain, there was a lot of water flowing over and through the glacier. It felt bizarre to be stood on something that water was flowing into. I mean, water usually flows along next to you rather than just disappear in a hole or crevasse, doesn’t it?

It was also a lot dirtier than we expected. I think we had something almost ethereal in our minds, but the reality was smudged brown by a pebble dashing of silt, stones and occasionally a car-sized boulder.  A couple on our tour said that it had been a lot cleaner the last time they came 20 years ago. That’s probably more down to a few recent earthquake induced landslips than a lack of a cleaning rota by the local tour companies. : )
At the end of the tour, we got to stand in an ice cave that had only been accessible for two weeks and would be likely to collapse in another three. The ice at the top of the cave was about a foot thick and littered with rocks and boulders above. Water was dripping from the cave ceiling but our guide ensured us that it was ‘perfectly safe’. I questioned our guide’s dictionary definition of ‘perfectly’ safe but it was wonderful inside. Well, at least for the 20 or so seconds we allowed yourself to forget that there was at least 2 tonnes of boulder over our heads!

Little dots above are people ice climbing!

We’re on the road again now… heading down to Wanaka in the dark. I’m quite glad as there seems to have been a few very tall bridges over gorges that we have past already. Just before we left Fox Glacier we went for a coffee in the cafe across the  road from Fox Guides. We met a man inside who looked terribly gaunt, had half his teeth missing and had an injury to his leg. After Jon and I said hello, he decided to plonk himself down on our table. If I’m honest, I thought he looked like the town drunk and he certainly spoke like that, with pauses mid-sentence and repetitions of words and phrases. Anyway, as he spoke he explained that he was born in Fox Glacier and had lived in and around the area all of his 48 years. I was happy to just listen to what he had to say, although admittedly I was slightly concerned that he commented that young people who visited the area knew nothing, but he didn’t seem to have classified us under this description. However, after a momentary visit to the bathroom, I returned to find that Jonathan had typically got to the nitty-gritty of the subject and the guy was explaining that he had developed a serious case of epilepsy and could at any moment have a huge seizure and potentially die in the process. The irony, as he saw it, was that he had previously been a chef in Wanaka and he had used to complain that that had been his lot. In fact he used to get really angry about it. Now this was his lot and he accepted it and it is only now that he realised just what he had before.

So I am grateful for my lot. My chance to see the world; my camera and laptop to share it with you and check everyone’s ok; my snail bed to keep me safe and warm and of course my travelling companion to enjoy every minute with.

Picton and the Marlborough Sounds

2nd December 2010 – Day 6

At the time of writing, I am sat in our campervan pitched in Momorangi Camp Ground overlooking the beach, bay and lushly vegetated hills on the opposite side. The only thing impeding my view is Jonathan; but as he’s at the kitchen bench making an omelette for our lunch, I’ll let it pass. He has suddenly taken charge of the cooking whilst we’ve been away. He says it’s because it’s more mechanical as it’s outside. I’m just enjoying the moment while it lasts.

We arrived at the campsite late yesterday afternoon. It’s run by the department of Conservation Campsite network which seem to been run by the government. They are more basic than private ones you pay more for but as we’ve been pitching in a beach side car park for the two nights previous to this, it’s nice to be somewhere we that I feel we are meant to be.

Since we’ve arrived, we’ve made friends with a pair of House Sparrows and a couple of ducks who came looking for food and have settled under the van.  Jon’s called the ducks Thelma and Louise although we’re not sure if Louise is a juvenile male as (s)he keeps chasing an adult male away from Thelma and has a brighter yellow beak and feet. At what age do juveniles change their plumage I wonder, as she seems fully grown. Thelma’s quite greedy and Louise seems to like to make sure she’s had her fill before she takes any food so it’s kind of like (s)he’s looking out for her.

So all was quite blissful here this morning and Jon was sat outside enjoying his cornflakes and strawberry yoghurt (he’ll try anything once… I don’t think it was a great success as his description when  asked was ‘like lumpy cold puke’) when all of a sudden he yelped and jumped out of his chair as something ran under the van. “Descent in the ranks so early in the relationship?”, I wondered. How could Thelma and Louise turn on us so quickly? However, with further inspection we discovered a chicken-like thing which we don’t know whether is wild or just a NZ chicken. Either way, it must have thought Jon’s little toe was a worm or something as I’ve never seen him move so fast – absolutely hilarious!

Last night we went looking for a waterfall on the campsite but took a wrong turning and hot-footed it up to the top of the hill for half an hour. The vegetation on the hills here is amazing. It is so dense that you have no choice but to stick to the marked paths and the trees are subtropical. Marching through the thick undergrowth was a bit like an episode of LOST, our ears were pinned back listening to any sound of the black smoke.  It was getting dark by the time we reached the top which opened out to glorious views of the bay below but of course we hadn’t taken the camera! Jon made us jog back down so we’d reach the bottom before it was totally dark. That lifted my spirits as it reminded me of pretending to be cars and racing down the path to the beach in Carbis Bay (Cornwall) with my brother when we were little. I couldn’t believe how dark it was underneath the canopy at the lower levels – absolutely pitch black even though there was still light outside.

We only had to wait a little longer before we could hunt for glow worms along the stream edge just inside the canopy. Neither of us had seen them before and they were just amazing, twinkling on and off in the darkness. Jon was a bit freaked out by them as he said they looked like eyes in the dark but I like to think they’re just bugs lighting the way for the other bugs to get on with their business.

I’m not sure what we’re going on to do from here. I think that we might be just chilling for today and possibly going to explore Picton and the rest of the Sounds over the next few days. Picton has a Museum explaining about colonial times and there is also an old boat in the dry dock which brought convicts to Australia and emigrants to New Zealand. It’s also getting hotter out there so I might go for a swim in the bay! – but you’re frightened of starfish Helen!

The Journey

After a couple of days at high stress levels packing up our things, praying it would all go in the rucksacks (yes it did, John) and making our home at least vaguely straight for Becky (thanks Mum and Dad) we were ready for off down to Essex. This followed with yet more frantic last minute necessities (you know, putting in claims for work, wrapping Xmas presents, buying gas hair curlers – all the essentials! : )) and yet more help from the parents in-law/sin… whatever your take on the subject is!

It was lovely to see Catherine, Deri, Holly and David albeit briefly, particularly as we met up for a family meal in Izumis which is the best Chinese buffet in the world EVER! I wonder what I’ll say after being in China for a few months!!! Knowing me, I’ll still say the same! JON: Helen refused to take the opportunity to get used to chopsticks and instead savoured the delight of eating noodles and rice with a fork. God help her in China.